Eleanor K Johnson

Eleanor is a Research Fellow in the School for Policy Studies. She is currently undertaking an NIHR, School for Social Care Research funded project title 'Covid, Closeness and Care', which explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted upon direct care provision in private homes and in residential homes for older people. Specifically, the project involves examining how the pandemic has impacted upon direct, close, and bodily caregiving along with how care workers negotiate materials/spaces and infection control procedures as they undertake such activities.

Eleanor is a social care researcher with a background in sociology. She has broad interests in social theory, work and employment, ageing, and qualitative research. Eleanor was previously employed as a Mildred Blaxter Postdoctoral Fellow and, before that, worked as a Senior Research Associate on the Exploring the Role of Volunteers in Care Settings (ERVIC) project and the Provision of Social Care in Extra Care Housing (ECHO) project. Her PhD – entitled The Costs of Care (2018) – was an ethnographic study of care work in residential care homes for older people and was carried out at Cardiff University. Eleanor also has extensive experience of working as a care worker in the social care sector.